Pink and Brown (aka Ice Cream Cone)

Whenever I wear pink and brown, I think of ice cream. Not that I'm a huge fan of ice cream (although I wouldn't shove it away if you bought me a cone of something with large chunks of chocolate and nuts in it...who am I kidding).

I built this whole outfit around the knee socks:
I am not a fan of pants, in general. They cling on my muscly thighs and well, why shouldn't I show off my legs? These pair are a little low on the hips, and they look a little too casual for my taste. I think I will have to replace them when I can shop again in January. I just don't have a lot of luck with dress pants in consignment stores.

Oh, the socks, yes, right:

Inigo is coming in for a rub. Seriously, aren't those awesome socks? I wish I had a full pair of tights in this pattern, then I'd scrap the pants altogether and just wear a skirt.

The stuff:

The Seattle shoes, some odds and ends of necklaces (two), my old trusty belt and the funky socks.

Cardigan (Esprit, consignment), cami (Plum), pants (Vero Moda), belt (Plum), socks (Sox Trot), shoes (Steve Madden, thrifted), chain necklace (Plum), pearly necklace (Le Chateau).

Casual Friday - Olive, Red and Tweed

Friday's outfit was fun - it felt very funky:
New tweed jacket (how do you not love a dark red lining?), new graphic tee with birds on it, new denim pencil skirt, new giraffe pony hair belt.

I particularly like how it came out with the outer-wear accessories:

My old velvet hat, my Smoking Lily bug scarf, my new long leather gloves (a consignment steal at $35 new - these sell for well over $100 at Club Monaco stores) and my new bag.

I layered my tights: one pair of dark red with a pair of olive fishnets over top:

I matched them with the new bag, which has olive/grassy green lining.

The bag was a pretty good deal - $58 consignment and it probably sold for over $200 new. I'm not usually a bag person, since I use my backpack 4 out of 5 days, but I fell in love with this one. I've seen Matt & Nat bags around (their bags are vegan and eco-friendly)/

I like the little write-up inside:

It says:

choose life choose positivity

choose the golden rule

choose to be at peace with

yourself choose salvation

scegliete di fare uno differenzo

choose to make a difference

choisissez de faire une difference

choose to be different choose to

be a rebel choose to be funky

choose to be yourself choose

to create a fashion statement

Good words to live by. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Jacket (Jacob Connexion, consignment), t-shirt (Truly Madly Deeply, consignment), skirt (InWear, consignment), belt (Dana Buchman, consignment), hat (Shelley West, Roberta's Hats), scarf (Smoking Lily), tights (Hue), shoes (Fluevog), choker (vintage 60s, Mom), earrings (gift from L).

Black and White Like Audi

I laughed when I saw this outfit that Audi had on the other day, because I had an outfit lined up this week that was similar - and here it is!
Same cream tux-style jacket, pinstriped skirt instead of pants, dark grey patterned top instead of a tie, and Oxford-style shoes. Great minds think alike! Ha!

But what, you may wonder am I looking at in the above photo?

It's a big fat kitty!

Anyway, the patterned top is new (about $15 consignment), but the skirt is the steal at $7 in a thrift store. I always feel everything on the racks (the feel of fabric is called the "hand") to help me search for quality garments. This skirt is 100% wool.

And if I may say so, I think it's a pretty killer skirt. It's Linda Allard for Ellen Tracy, and I would guess that it's mid-90s. It has a fairly high waist (it sits right at my belly button) but the sizing is current (it's a 6).

The stuff:

A good shot of the pattern of the top. I love Ann Taylor (and Loft) - I wish we had them in Canada. The necklace is one of Grandma J's.

Jacket (Club Monaco, consignment), cami (RW & Co.), top (Ann Taylor, consignment), skirt (Linda Allard for Ellen Tracy, thrifted), shoes (Fluevog), necklace (no markings, likely 1960s, Grandma J's), earrings (Aldo Accessories), ring (The Bay).

Passing the Auntie Torch - and Counter Push-ups Update

With all the Olympics hoopla and torch thing going on this past week, it seemed appropriate today that I had lunch with my Aunt Lois. When I was growing up, Lois was the cool aunt who would chase us around the house, or gave me the furry koala bear, or gave me my first diary. I wanted to be like Lois.

And of course, here I am, being the same kind of auntie to my nieces. I like that.

I dressed for lunch out:
This dress was my bargain find of the weekend: $9 for Alfred Sung! I think the sizing is wonky on it, though, since it's labeled a size 10. At first I thought maybe it was from the early 80s (when a size 10 was equivalent to a size 6 in today's sizing), but it's a cotton blended with lycra (which didn't appear in mass-produced garments like this until well into the 90s). Anyway, I really liked the pattern, and having a black background means that I can wear it into the autumn, and not have to save it just for summer weather.

I did kind of wish I'd worn a slip, though, as I had "leg creep" all day.

I am still diligently doing my counter push-ups!
Now that I have a bit of arm strength, I am working on getting my form right. Butt in, back straight, stomach pulled in. I can see a difference in my shoulders and in my posture.

It's really working! My pathetic little T-Rex arms are getting stronger! I told my Weight Watchers group about it on Saturday and many of them thought they could do it too. Tina's been doing them - go, Tina!

Anyway, back to the regular programming - the stuff:
Isn't that an awesome pattern? It reminds me of koi fish.

And I know I only wore these shoes two weeks ago, but they went so well with the dress. At the last minute, I swapped out my regular micro-fishnet nude hosiery for the gold and black tights.

My former co-worker Bonnie bought me these earrings when she was on holiday last month:
I love them. Thank you so much, Bonnie!

Cardigan (Express, consignment), dress (Alfred Sung, thrifted), shoes (Valley Lane, gift from mother-in-law), cuff (The Bay), earrings (gift from Bonnie).

Shiny Skirt...and Bruce Lee

Today is my ex's birthday. I've been married almost 13 years, haven't been with my ex for close to 16 years, and yet, every year, I remember that it's his birthday. Happy 40th Birthday, Q, ya jerk.

But before I get too distracted, here's my new skirt and top:
Q and I used to watch Bruce Lee movies - a lot. One of them was "The Chinese Connection" (aka "Fist of Fury", not be confused with "Fists of Fury"). There's a cheesy character (a bad guy, of course), who has a funny line of dialogue where he grins, nods and rubs his lapels and says, "Niiiiice...shiny suit."

Weird how your mind makes connections, isn't it?

The skirt was around $35, the brown top (it's not a jacket, it's much thinner) ties in front with a nice bow and was $20.

The stuff:

I love the colours in the skirt - they have a really strong purple tone to them, and I like the grey and brown together.

Tie top (Pelican Cove, consignment), blouse (La Classe Couture), skirt (Mexx, consignment), shoes (Jessica Simpson), ring (Sarah Coventry, vintage 70s), earrings (Plum).

I Never Thought I'd Wear a Leather Dress to Work

But then, when one thinks of leather dresses, this isn't what comes to mind:

The green cardigan is also new - it has sparkly buttons! It's hard to see, but it has gathers at the tops of the sleeves.

Here's a shot of the full dress:

Most people didn't realize it was a dress (as opposed to a skirt) until I told them. Isn't it gorgeous? And it's soft, like buttah! It was $60 consignment. I was so excited - it fits like it was made for me.

Check out the lovely seaming on the bodice:

The stuff:

My good ol' shoes - these are two years old now. I've never worn this belt. The necklace was also a new purchase from my favourite consignment store.

Dress (Danier Leather, consignment), cardigan (Kersh, consignment), shoes (BCBGirls), belt (don't remember), necklace (consignment), earrings (not shown).

Sunday Shopper

It's been a while since I hit all of my favourite consignment shops, so instead of watching football all day, I headed out into the crisp sunshine for an afternoon of shopping. And oh, it was successful! I traded in $120 worth of clothes for...$120 worth of clothes.

I also bought a leather dress (yes!), which I am wearing to work tomorrow. I've been having fun for the last hour, putting together all my outfits for the week.

Anyway, I don't usually post my weekend stuff, but this is what I wore:
I picked up the skirt yesterday (I've been looking for another denim pencil skirt to replace my old one which sits too low on the hips), as well as the scarf.

I always like to wear layers when I'm shopping so that I have a camisole to try things on, and I can slip in and out of my clothes without much hassle. Also, boots/tights are great for trying on shoes. I got a lot of compliments from fellow shoppers (and a stranger riding by on her bike!) on my knee socks.

The scarf is a lovely wool - I took a picture of the label before I removed it (I hate visible labels).

Jacket (RW & Co.), orange top (InWear), cami (Plum), skirt (InWear, consignment), boots (Miz Mooz), scarf (St. Michael, thrifted).

Happy Hallowe'en! Recognized, and Good News for Tina!

Happy Hallowe'en! We're staying in tonight and watching scary movies (double bill of "Evil Dead" and "Evil Dead 2" - woo!), but I took advantage of my workplace's invitation to come to work in costume to be a little more outrageous on a Casual Friday than I normally would.

This definitely called for killer boots!
Oh, yeah! The black thing that I'm wearing is a dress from the 60s. It is double-knit polyester (WARM), and is slit up to the waist at the front, creating a long panel. I can just picture it with hot pants and go-go boots (and I've worn it with just funky tights, very Lady Gaga, but then, I was a lot younger when I wore it like that). For me now, I'll stick with skinny jeans!

The dress still has its vintage label.
I added my Shi Studios choker and my punk cuff (I was going to do some fake tattoos, but as you can see by the Dolphins clock, it was already 8:08ish in the morning when I took this pictures).

Of course, Hallowe'en is the perfect time to break out the cape!

This is a super-long cape made out of stretch velvet. I've had it for years.

What a nice autumn day:

Yes, that's a castle in the background.

For fun, this is my office door, which I decorated.

I cut up a black file folder to make the fence, the gravestones and the bats. The ghosts are made out of Kleenex and the yellow moon is a sticky-note. The picture of me is from when L and I went to see Alice Cooper.

The notes on my name plate say, "Tricky, devious and difficult" and "Your company should proud of you [sic]! God bless you all the time!" Two conflicting opinions of me from different people I had dealings with, heh heh.

A shout out to Jennifer, who reads my blog (found me through Kasmira) - she caught me out shopping in my favourite thrift store and recognized me, despite the fact that I had not washed my hair, had no makeup on and was sweaty. Thanks for reading, Jennifer!

And finally, Tina! The orange skirt was there! I bought it - and sent you an email. Send me your address and I'll ship it to you.

Dress (Marjorie Hamilton Vancouver, vintage 60s), jeans (Esprit), boots (Aldo), choker (Shi Studios), cuff (old).

My 500th Post

And nothing exciting happens! I thought about doing a retrospective like Kasmira, but eh, I'm tired and it's been a long day.

Instead, I wore some of the birthday presents that my mom brought me back from Australia last week:
I'm all matchy! My lovely sparkly bubble skirt with the pockets, and my super-hero tights. This skirt has no slit - I can't take big strides. Most annoying.

The stuff:

Flats after two days of heels - hurrah! The cuff is new from Mom, and so is the opal and silver pendant. A close-up of the pendant:

Isn't that lovely? The stone is an opal triplet, meaning it's a thin slice of opal set on a black background, with clear quartz on top of it...sort of an opal sandwich (it also means the opal is cheaper to buy). This particular slice of opal is a Lightning Ridge Black Opal (named after the town in central western New South Wales). They have a black "potch" on the back, which gives them lots of colour and sparkle.

Sweater (some brand from Hong Kong, consignment), cami (only hem showing, InWear), skirt (Kenzie Girl), shoes (Franco Sarto, consignment), cuff (gift from Mom), opal pendant (gift from Mom), white gold hoops (gift from L).

New Shoes! Another Confession! Push-ups Work!

This is a very busy entry. Ah, such is life.

I've been mulling over what to wear with my new shoes. I went with yellow.
My favourite mustard cardi - soon to be set aside for warmer sweaters - and my black polka dot skirt (the dots are really small).

The shoes are by Friis Company, from Denmark. They're purple! They're suede!

The shape is very 50s-looking to me, and the peep-toe is nice and small. They were were also very comfortable and did not rub a bit all day. It is worth it to spend money on good quality shoes.

Inigo doesn't care about shoes unless he is digging in them.

That is what a fat cat looks like when he's trying to get up.

And this is what my fabulous shoes look like:

Ah! They are so lovely and the suede is so soft. It says "A bit of Luxury for Every Day". You have to read their blurb - "the triviality of everyday" is such a great phrase.

I made the necklace years ago out of beads that were given to me by my mom - I think they belonged to my great-grandmother? Not sure. Mom, email me and tell me. The purple glass beads are the old ones - there is one oval one and the rest are triangles. I should remake this - the little bronze beads are tarnishing.

Okay, the confession. Just like with the birthday money that I got, I had to top up the gift certificate amount by $15.00 (the shoes were $165.00). I feel it was justified. And I'm still not off the wagon...I will still adhere to my goal.

And finally, the push-ups that I started doing last week - I did keep on doing them. I probably do about 60 push-ups a day, minimum. It's so much easier doing 10 easy ones at a time!

My biceps:

Look out, Sarah Connor! Still looking a little flabby underneath but I do have loose skin from losing weight, so I'm probably stuck with my "buh-byes," ha!

My triceps:

I'm pointing at a muscle that I can see (only me?).

I was stiff the next day after my initial day of push-ups, especially across my chest and in my triceps. Ruth suggested I do some triceps dips (using the arms of my office chair), which helped get past that stiffness. I definitely feel that my back and shoulders are stronger - and it's making me stand up straighter.

Cardigan (Jacob), cami (Esprit), skirt (Precis Petites), shoes (Friis Company), belt (Plum), necklace (mix of vintage and new), earrings (don't remember).

A Whole Lotta Bigass

The first thing my boss said to me today was, "Wow, that's a bigass flower!" Then I realized that I'd worn three bigass things today. Good thing I wore a suit to keep it all under control:
I think the conservative cut of the suit anchors all the funky stuff and keeps it office-appropriate. If I'd had a big meeting or something, I could easily have stripped off some of the bigass items and looked very buttoned-down.

This is more how I felt today:

Dude...let's not get all stressed.

I had enough layers on to choke a horse (if a horse would choke on layers...yeah):

Peach cami (I tell ya, that 80s peach is going to come back!), brown shirt, plaid vest and the jacket (and the jacket and vest are both lined).

There's the bigass bracelet, which is actually a necklace that I wrapped around my wrist a bunch of times. The bigass flower, of course (inspired by Kari's purchase while in my city!).

The stuff: And the last bigass item is...the shoes! Woot, I love these babies!

Isn't this a gorgeous flower?

So pretty - the colour is not quite as peachy as it looks. It has a lot of pink and rose in the centre.

Suit (Jacob, consignment), vest (Vero Moda), blouse (Esprit), cami (Esprit), shoes (Qupid), necklace worn as bracelet and earrings (Aldo Accessories), flower (Roberta's Hats).

Reds and Patterns

As part of my day with my 10-year-old niece, Zoe, on Saturday, we went and got manicures. I'm feeling the old compulsion to match everything to my nails, which are a bright red. I couldn't resist red - since my nails are always short it doesn't look too "dragon lady".

My favourite Odd Molly skirt was the red focus thing today:
And I have never worn this belt, despite having it in my wardrobe for over 2 years! It was $4 in an odds & ends bin in a little boutique downtown.

The stuff:

Kitten heels for a change. My lovely Fossil jewelry from L.

Cardigan (Express, thrifted), top (I.N. San Francisco, consignment), skirt (Odd Molly, consignment), belt (no brand), shoes (Predictions, consignment), jewelry (Fossil).